Kiss the Girl
by HP Fan four
Summary: When Harry provides a comforting shoulder for a heartbroken Ginny to lean on, he discovers there's a lot more to her than just Ron's little sister. And that is when he starts falling for her. NOW INCLUDES CHAPTER 6
1. There you see her, sitting there across ...

A/N This story is dedicated to my close friend Sarida (jackrussel666) who's a really great friend, a great shoulder to lean on, a great laugh, and who's just always there for me. Plus, her fics are really incredible, so do yourself a favour and read them because they're hilarious, exciting and really really really sweet! Thanks for everything, Sarida! 

Harry threw down his quill with a sigh and leaned back in his armchair. He was sitting in the deserted Gryffindor common room, finishing the last of his Transfiguration homework and listening to the cheers and groans that rose from the Quidditch pitch as the rest of the school watched the first game of the season. For a moment, he glanced out of the window at the stadium below, massaging his aching hand and debating on whether he should go down to watch the rest of the match or not. A cool breeze ruffled his fringe, soothing the face that had been screwed up with concentration over the past four days since he'd started his sixth year. This had undoubtedly been the toughest, most demanding school week he'd ever been through. All the teachers, even Hagrid, had the sixth years spending their every free moment in the library or in the common room, working. Even Ron, who had never overworked himself because of exam pressure spent all his time with Harry and Hermione, trying to battle their way through the mountains of homework they had been assigned.

But now it was Saturday, and Harry was too drained even to go down to the Quidditch stadium to watch the first game of the year. He could only be privately grateful to Dumbledore for changing the routine and making it a Hufflepuff-Slytherin match as opposed to the Gryffindor-Slytherin game which usually opened the Quidditch season. 

Harry heaved himself out of his scarlet armchair and stretched the back muscles that had seized up during his four-day torment. He decided that, on reflection, the fresh air would do him some good and even if he only made it to the stadium to see the Snitch being caught, it would be worth it. However as began making his way towards the portrait hole, a flash of reddish-orange caught his eye. Glancing around, he was surprised to see a hunched figure with long fiery red hair sitting on the couch in front of the empty fireplace, apparently lost in thought. He knew it was best to leave people alone in most cases, but something in the back of his mind, something he couldn't really determine made him walk over.

"Ginny?" he said gently.

The youngest Weasley jumped and looked at him. Her usually warm brown eyes seemed slightly dimmed, as though the torch of happiness that usually sat behind them had flickered out. Harry could tell just by looking at her that she'd been staring quietly at that grate for a while now…and something…something extremely odd hung in those eyes, like tears that were being forced into their ducts, though the dam that stemmed them was weakening.

"Hello Harry!" Ginny replied, fixing a slightly weaker version of her old smile in place. "Didn't you go down to watch game?"

Harry, still puzzling over the mixture of emotions in her eyes, shook himself and shrugged. "Nah, it's only Slytherin versus Hufflepuff, it doesn't affect Gryffindor's chances. Ravenclaw are playing the winners next, so it's not too important…besides, it'll be like all the other Slytherin matches – loads of fouling and cheating…"

"Yep," Ginny nodded a little too quietly and timidly. 

"What about you? I thought you used to like Quidditch?" Harry asked. 

"Oh, I still like Quidditch," Ginny smiled, though not with the full sincerity. "I'm just, well, like you said, I thought I'd give it a miss this time."

Harry nodded. Ginny held his gaze for a moment, still smiling in a diluted sort of way. 

"Are you all right?" Harry inquired, before he could stop himself. "You seem a bit…out of it."

"No, no, I'm fine, really," Ginny smiled quickly. "I'm really…I'm…never better…"

"Are you sure? Because you're awfully…"

"No, honestly I'm okay," she said in what she obviously thought was a cheerful reassuring tone. 

Ginny gazed into Harry's eyes and felt a small pang. She didn't love him anymore, she'd given up on the little childhood crush she'd had on him ages ago. But something about his dazzling bright green eyes…the honesty and sincerity of those pools of almost painfully bright green, made her feel it was impossible to be dishonest with him. She couldn't lie, not to Harry. He was too honest a person to lie to. 

"Well, actually…I'm not **_entirely_** fine," she admitted, lowering her eyes back to grate. "I'm, um, well, I'm kind of well…I'm sort of not okay."

"I know, I could sort of guess that from the way you were staring at that fireplace," Harry said with a small smile.

Ginny looked up. "Am I that obvious?"

Harry shrugged good-naturedly, then said, "Well, is it something you'd like to share, or is it private?"

Ginny bit her lip thoughtfully. 

"Whatever's good for you, Ginny," Harry said quickly. "If you want to keep it to yourself I respect that, you know I do. But if you do want talk…I'm here, okay?"

He was so sincere, calm and reassuring Ginny just felt she couldn't possibly keep anything from him, even if it had absolutely nothing to do him. 

"Well," Ginny sighed after a short pause, "Dean just broke up with me."

"Dean?" Harry repeated. "Dean who?"

"Dean Thomas," Ginny mumbled, avoiding Harry's eyes.

"Oh!" said Harry. "I'm sorry, Ginny. I didn't know you were dating."

"We weren't really," she said quickly. "it was very sort of…unofficial. I don't know how much he really liked me anyway."

Harry lowered himself onto the sofa next to her, watching her gaze at the fireplace again with apprehension. "Can I ask what happened?"

Ginny looked up and for a moment, just gazed into his eyes in silence, then said, "Why does anyone dump anyone? For a fancier model. Why keep something second-best when you can do better? He just said, '_sorry, Ginny, I don't think it'll work between us_' and ran off after that…well, Parvati."

This made perfect sense to Harry. Dean had always had a crush on Parvati, a very obvious crush ever since the first few weeks of their first year. He practically spelled it out for anyone who hadn't noticed by grumbling about how Harry and Ron had got the two best-looking dates for the Yule Ball. And Dean, though a great classmate and a great roommate, always keen to draw some banners or signs to show support for his fellow Gryffindors, always stuck to what he wanted. He wouldn't hear a word against his West Ham football team, he always stuck to his guns, and it seemed just the sort of thing he'd do, drop everything for a chance to go out with Parvati, regardless of other people's feelings. He would never hurt anyone on purpose, but he might let other people's problem slip his mind….

"I'm sorry, Ginny," Harry said quietly. 

"It's okay, really," Ginny said with false cheerfulness, then allowed some bitterness to seep into her tone. "I don't know why I'm so bothered about it, people have been doing it to me all my life…never taking me seriously because I'm the baby of the family or using me for their own advantage. Look at Riddle! He was my only friend in the world during my first year, the only one I really felt I could trust and he would have killed me, if it hadn't been for…"

Her eyes locked onto Harry's for a moment, before quickly looking away. The fake brightness was wearing out now and the bitterness and sorrow grew with every word, until she blinked twice and two small tears silently leaked down her cheeks. 

"Just because I'm the youngest, it doesn't mean I don't have feelings!" she said through a knot in her throat. "I can't help being the baby! And even if I could, why does everyone always walk all over me? Don't I deserve a little…?" The knot in her throat prevented her from continuing.

Something revolutionary was going on inside Harry's mind. As he looked at her objectively, he was surprised to see a teenager sitting next to him, a fully-fledged fifteen year old suffering from all the burdens of teenage life. Dean actually asked her out…well, of course he did. Dean wasn't blinded by the image of his best friend's little sister. Once a little sister, always a little sister, and Harry had always seen Ginny as the little nine-year-old holding her mother's hand at King's Cross, begging to catch a glimpse at the hero she'd been brought up hearing about. Harry had always seen her that way, even when she fourteen…but now the blindfold had come off, and Harry was seeing Ginny for what she was for the first time ever: a sensitive, sensible fifth-year. And if he was honest with himself, she was quite pretty, too. Her hair was a lot sleeker and longer than it used to be, flowing magnificently down her shoulders and bumping gently over her chest. In fact, she was nothing short of beautif- 

_Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!_ Harry shook himself mentally. _What was he thinking? She's hurt, she's vulnerable – how dare you think such things about her now? You'd have to be heartless Slytherin to take advantage of her now…._but Harry's heart was performing some strange gymnastics inside him, his stomach squirmed like a handful of live Gillyweed – sensations he hadn't felt for three years – since his very first Quidditch match against Ravenclaw when he'd first laid eyes on their Seeker, the Seeker he'd grown to dislike so much…nothing like the pure-hearted girl who was sitting in front of him…

"If it's any consolation, Ginny," Harry began quietly, "I don't think you're a baby…I think you're great."

Ginny raised her nut-coloured eyes to Harry's and smiled. It was a small but genuine smile. There was no element of hiding in any of it.

"Thanks, Harry."

Harry, now completely lost in the magnificent eyes that held the gateway to Ginny's world – the emotion and the inner beauty -, heard himself mutter. "Anytime."

They held each other's gaze for a few moments, and suddenly Harry felt like someone had just switched on a tape recorder inside his head. He could almost hear a song, a song he hadn't heard for at least eight years, one he'd only heard at the cinema at Dudley's sixth birthday, but the lyrics and the music were fresh in his mind as though he'd been listening to it every day since…

"_There you see her,_

_ Sitting there across the way._

_ She don't got a lot to say, but there's something about her,_

_ And you don't know why, but you're dying to try_

_ You wanna – kiss the girl…."_

The first verse kept repeating itself, and Harry, though privately screaming for himself to gain control and not to stoop to Dean's level, found himself almost hypnotized by the mixture of the music and Ginny's eyes. So slowly, his progress was hardly noticeable, Harry moved his face towards Ginny's, his lips static, though ready to pounce. Was it his imagination, or was Ginny moving towards him too? 

BANG!

The portrait hole flew open and the rest of Gryffindor House walked in, chattering excitedly about the match. Harry and Ginny jolted away from each other almost automatically and Ron came over, apparently dying to share the match's excitement with Harry, Hermione close behind him. 

"You missed a great game, Harry!" he said chattily. "You should have seen it, Malfoy was closing in on the Snitch, then the new Hufflepuff Seeker, you know the one who replaced Cedric, followed him from above and dived down, just this Bludger came zooming up…"

"You can tell Harry about that later," said Hermione firmly. "First of all, I think you should get started on that Transfiguration homework Professor McGonagall set us…"

Harry was too dazed to remember he'd already finished all his homework for the weekend and stood up and began following Ron and Hermione to the other side of the room, with a small wave to Ginny, who stared after him for a moment. 

As Harry settled himself down between his two best friends, he glanced over at Ginny and saw she was staring at the fireplace again…looking more lost than ever.

**_What kind of creep are you?_**Harry asked himself furiously. 

A/N Right. Chapter two on it's way. Well, as soon as I can I'll write it and upload it. As always, it depends on feedback, so as you see there's a cute little blue clicker-thing at the bottom of the screen, right? Well, pleeeeeeease click on it and, well, you know what to do.

Btw, the whole Little Mermaid song this, well, you may have noticed I absolutely worship Disney! If you'll read S.P.E.Whoops, you'll see what I mean. I've never written a songfic before and I didn't even intend it to be one, but, well, that's just way it turned out. PLEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE review.

Chapter Two….coming soon.


	2. Dinner for Two

Harry sat alone at the Gryffindor table, staring gloomily at his supper, not feeling remotely hungry. If anything, he felt sick. He's spent the whole day beating himself up internally for what had almost happened the previous day during that Slytherin-Hufflepuff match. He still couldn't believe it – he had actually tried kissing Ginny, tried taking advantage of her when she was at her most vulnerable and needed his support the most. And the worst part of it is, he would have done it too, had the game not ended when it did, and _then_ what would have happened? What was he thinking? What kind of a lowlife had he become? He'd never tried kissing a girl in his life, why did he have to pick on Ginny to start? I don't deserve to be in Gryffindor, he thought bitterly as he glanced down the busy Gryffindor table, which was full of the bustle and happy chatter of his classmates, which so strongly contrasted his own feelings. I don't even deserve to live…

**_ Hey whoa whoa whoa whoa! Wait a minute_**_!_ The defence spoke up**. _What are you talking about? You didn't try kissing her because you'd suddenly turned evil. You weren't exactly thinking "hmm, Ron's ickle sister's all upset, let's see how much I can hurt her even more!" You _**weren't**_ thinking, you were entranced…one look into her eyes and your mind went completely blank. You were doing what her eyes were telling you – you discovered what a beauty she was –inside and out – and your heart just took control…_**

Hold it, what are you saying here? _The prosecution side of Harry's brain demanded_. That what? That you're in love with Ginny or something? Because that's impossible, you know it is. She's your best friend's little sister! You can't love her. It's like…like incest. You're like family to her. People don't just suddenly fall for their friends' sisters. Besides, what exactly was it that you discovered about her yesterday anyway? That she was pretty? That's hardly a reason to go getting any ideas and blaming Ginny for what you almost did to her. Get a grip! Everyone grows up, why should Ginny be any exception? Why haven't you grown up yet, that's what I'd like to know!

Harry's defence side was just arguing that he _knows_ that he discovered a lot more about Ginny yesterday than just her looks, when a shadow fell over him. Looking up, Harry felt the guilty knot in his stomach tighten itself painfully. 

Standing opposite him, her soft delicate-looking hands clutching the back of the empty chair opposite him, was Ginny. Miserable and mortified though he was, Harry couldn't help marvelling subconsciously at the beautiful glint of her ice-white teeth as she smiled at him or at the twinkle of her astonishing brown eyes, or the way her very long red hair flowed smoothly down wither side of her neck, sliding magnificently over the bump of her chest. But his remorse returned as he shook off the brief trance and remembered the last time he'd noticed these things and what his realisation had almost driven him to do. 

"Good evening, Harry," Ginny said pleasantly, and Harry wondered whether she was trying to torture him, acting so calmly while he was so eaten up with self-disgust.

"Hi Ginny," Harry replied uncertainly, then, before he could stop himself blurted, "how are you? After yesterday, I mean?"

His stomach was now writhing so violently, he felt he might be sick. 

"Oh, I'm fine, really," she replied good-naturedly, and she looked it too. "I'm completely over Dean now. I'm starting to enjoy life again."

Perhaps he'd been moving towards her so slowly yesterday she hadn't noticed what he was doing, Harry thought hopefully, though something in her eye told him not to relax just yet. 

"D'you mind if I…?" Ginny indicated the chair she was gripping, and Harry replied that he didn't mind at all with perhaps a little more enthusiasm than was necessary. Ginny smiled graciously and seated herself opposite Harry. 

"Where are Ron and Hermione?" she asked, taking the bowl of potatoes and applying some to her plate. "Wait, don't tell me! Hermione's on her prefect duties and Ron…..is………..probably in detention again. Which teacher was it this time?"

"Trelawney," Harry grinned. "After three years, she finally cracked on Thursday night, so he'll be spending the evening polishing the exterior shell of her '_infinite crystalline orbs_.'"

Ginny laughed. "Well, that's something I could have predicted without a lump of soggy tea-leaves!"

As their laughter faded, Harry watched Ginny start on her supper with semiconscious admiration. A few moments later, Ginny broke the silence.

"Harry, could you please pass me the -?"

"The steak?" Harry offered quickly, eager to be helpful, but faltered as a look of revulsion crossed Ginny's pretty face.

"Urgh, no thanks, Harry, I'm vegetarian," she said, staring at the plate of meat in Harry's proposing hands with disgust. "No, I meant the jug…"

"You're _vegetarian_?" Harry echoed in amazement as he put the steak down and handed her the heavy glass jug of pumpkin juice. "how come?"

"I was born an animal lover," Ginny shrugged simply. "I've never seen the justice in killing animals to feed human stomachs. I mean, it's not like we depend on them to survive! I haven't eaten meat for nine years and I'm perfectly healthy!" (_Very_ healthy, Harry thought) "I'll never understand people like Hagrid – love animals but still eat stoat sandwiches by the kilo. It's disgusting the way people use animals for their own selfish benefits. These poor creatures have feelings and families and lives…they've got the right to live like everyone else. They're defenceless, too. Personally, I think killing a chicken or a cow or even a fish is just as bad as slaying a unicorn. I don't know why people make the distinction."

"And when exactly did you drop this whole meat thing?" Harry asked, fascinated. 

"Well, Charlie was the first to turn vegetarian because he loves animals too, and I always thought of becoming one too, except I was worried…then when I was six George told me exactly how my sausages were made in the middle of a family barbecue, and I just decided – that's it for me. I can't eat this stuff anymore. It's too…cruel. Too inexcusable. I haven't touched meat or fish since."

Harry thought about this while Ginny continued eating. If he was honest with himself, he'd always felt like could relate to animals, whether he'd realised it or not. Now that he thought about it, he used to like the spiders in his under-stairs cupboard during his first ten years in Privet Drive. He used to talk to them when he felt lonely, pretending they could understand him. He was so ecstatic when Hagrid bought him Hedwig, he could hardly string the words together to thank him, and somehow he didn't think the only reason he'd sympathised with that Brazilian boa constrictor was because he could speak the language. In fact, apart from Blast-Ended Skrewts and one or two other animals Hagrid would consider harmless, Harry really liked animals. Ginny's theory made perfect sense to him and as he stared at the plate of steak he'd offered her and thought of what had gone into its making, he had to admit the idea revolted him too. He supposed he'd never really given his food much of a thought, really. He just ate it and was grateful for it…but if he could get by without meat…He glanced over at Ginny. It would be just the sort of thing she'd do, drop a carnivorous menu out of sympathy for other living creatures. She was sweet and caring and gentle… this attitude towards animal protein only made him admire her more.

"Is it easy becoming vegetarian?" Harry asked eventually, as Ginny finished the last of her mushroom pie.

"Nothing to it!" Ginny smiled reassuringly. "Even Muggles have proper meat substitutes that preserve the taste and everything, but with magic you can keep the taste and texture and everything. It's not all munching lettuce leaves an cabbages, like people make it out to be. Why d'you ask? Are you thinking of giving it a go?"

"I think you've pretty much persuaded me," Harry smiled, sending the plate of steak whizzing down to the far end of the table with a quick Banishing Charm. 

Ginny's eyes widened and she gave him a very warm smile that made his heart go hyper. 

"Wow, Harry, I'm really impressed!" and she looked it too. "Good for you! You'll feel so much better about yourself, believe me! I always knew you had a good heart, Harry."

They both blushed for a moment and avoided each other's eyes at these words and Ginny finished her meal in silence, Harry watching her with growing adoration. There was something about her he couldn't quite put into words, something about her twinkling eyes, her delicate gentility and sweetness, something that made Harry wonder if maybe, just maybe he wasn't beginning to feel the first symptoms of lo-

"It's been great chatting to you, Harry," Ginny said, interrupting his thoughts as she stood up. "I'll see you around."

"Ginny, wait!" Harry blurted quickly, taking himself by as much surprise as he did her. 

He knew shouldn't be spending time with her, knew that the more he was alone with her the more his feelings were likely to grow, and the harder it would be to get out of this mess of emotions. He knew that he should never love Ginny in any way other than just a friend of her family because of the close family-like relations they'd been brought up on… but at that moment, he considered none of these problems. The only thought lodged in his mind was…

"Would you like to go for a walk?" he offered recklessly. "If you've got nothing else planned for the evening, that is," he added quickly, "because if you do have other plans or if you don't and you don't want to come anyway, I'd completely understand and please don't feel obliged to if you don't wa-"

But Ginny's eyes sparkled as her mouth opened in a smile of pure delight, which dazzled Harry into silence.

"Sure, I'd love to! That's a wonderful idea!"

Harry's heart gave a huge bound, as though it had bounced onto a powerful trampoline and forgot the way down. 

"Really?"

"Really really!" 

Harry grinned as he got to his feet and walked with Ginny down the long House table to the double-doors leading to the Entrance Hall, unable to believe his luck and completely ignoring the busy debate that had broken out in his mental courtroom about whether he should be doing this or not.

Somehow, being with Ginny just made anything else seem so irrelevant…

A/N Short chapter by my standards. I intended this to be really long but because of my school pressure and stuff, I've had to split it into two parts. Their walk in the next chapter will be kind of like a chapter two – part two. Get it? So this was part one and next would be………you get it! we both have layers!

About the vegetarianism, well, I always imagined Ginny as an animal lover because she cared about Mrs Norris when she was Petrified and besides, I am veggie, and I've been veggie for nine years for the reasons listed above and I just wanted to get my point across. If anyone's got a problem with that, well, keep it to yourselves. Don't mean to be nasty, but I get enough stick from the people around me and I don't want my darling reviewers to start too! And speaking or reviews……ahem! Hint hint! 

Chapter three – well, chapter two part two, will be up….whenever. Need I beg once more for reviews or worship those kind souls who did?


	3. Yes, you want her, look at her, you know...

The clear, pleasant air and golden-orange sky of that evening were the last witnesses to the remnants of summer that hadn't left September yet. A tennis-ball sized scarlet sun was sinking slowly behind the high purple mountains surrounding Hogwarts, casting a reddish-gold sheen over the grassy grounds, the glassy surface of the vast lake and the trees of the Forbidden Forest. It was calm evening, the slight chill in the air reminding anyone who had forgotten that this was the autumn after all, but it was comfortable enough for the pair of walkers to enjoy their evening stroll, without the need for warmer clothing. A few owls fluttered overhead, their soft hooting adding to the scene of almost romantic serenity. 

Harry couldn't believe his luck. Here he was, alone with Ginny, chattering amicably as they circled the banks of the lake. He felt like she was already his, like she'd flung her arms around him and told him she loved him…and yet the fact she hadn't yet, gave him an excited feeling of expectance and just the light-hearted feeling of being with her company… On the other hand, Harry felt a pang in his insides, a jab of guilt and uneasiness about the previous day's events and what he'd almost done to her. Somehow, he knew he hadn't heard the last of it…he knew Ginny must have realized what was going on…though how he knew was beyond him.

After completing their second circuit of the Hogwarts lake, Harry and Ginny made their way up the sloping lawns towards the castle. Harry leaned against the curved wall of the North Tower and Ginny stood at his side, as they both gazed in silence at the crimson orb gliding gently out of view behind the inky silhouettes of the mountains. Harry glanced over at Ginny and couldn't help marveling at how her hair glowed even redder in the ruby gloss of the setting sun, making it almost painful to look at, although the sight was so amazing it was hard not to.

"D'you think he's still up there?" Ginny asked abruptly, jerking her thumb upwards.

"Who?"

"Ron, of course."

Harry craned his neck to squint at the distant Divination classroom window, high above their heads. A moment later, he heard an outburst of frustration from the classroom and what sounded like an "_infinite crystalline orb_" being smashed against the wall into as many pieces as the vandal could manage.

"Sounds like it," Harry grinned at Ginny, who returned the smile. 

"It does a little, doesn't it?" she laughed. 

"Can't really blame him," Harry muttered, returning his gaze to the small window above, "If I was stuck in there all evening, I'd probably smash **_everything_** in there! I can't stand that class! I wish I'd quit when Hermione did. Bit late for that now, with all my exams coming up…Miserable old bat," he added with a growl at the window. 

"You know, there's more to Divination than Trelawney teaches," Ginny said, apparently hoping to distract Harry from the bitterness he was feeling on Ron's behalf. 

"I'll bet there is," Harry replied, still glaring at the small window. "Rotten fraud probably makes it all up as she goes along."

"No, but I mean there are other branches of Divination," Ginny said quickly. "Even if everything she taught was true - Divination is all about the unknown, not just the future."

"Really?" said Harry with interest, turning his gaze back to her. "Like what?"

"Well, I only know a few," Ginny said slowly, "but I know there are things like soul-searching and mind-reading… that's supposed to determine what kind of a person you are, and what goes on in your heart, and the things you value most…that sort of thing. I assume that's how Dumbledore made that Mirror of Erised of his work. All he had to do was put the right spells on it."

"I've been wondering how that Mirror worked!" said Harry. "How **_does_** this soul-searching stuff work?"

"Oh, I can show you, if you like," Ginny replied with a challenging smile. 

"Yeah, sure, that'd be great!" Harry replied excitedly.

Ginny pulled her wand out of her belt and muttered "_chafisat klafim_", making a pack of playing cards appear out of thin air, hovering in mid-air between her and Harry. 

"It's quite simple, really," Ginny explained, seeing the stumped expression on Harry's face. "If you perform the charm correctly, the pack will select the card that represents your personality and everything best. Most of the Slytherins, for example, would get the Jack of clubs, because they're all bullying idiots, see? A lot of people find their soul-mates through this system, too. All you need is matching cards…"

For a moment, Harry wondered whether this was such a good idea after all. This card trick could expose to Ginny the confusing emotions his heart was feeling for her, and was that wise at this stage? She was still a victim of Dean's carelessness, no matter what she said, and Harry felt he'd made enough mistakes on the subject to take the risk of hurting her any more. But on the other hand, he couldn't help feeling this warmth towards her, or the strange closeness to her, or any of the other symptoms he'd been going through since yesterday's Quidditch match. It wasn't entirely his fault…

"Now, could you take out your wand, please, Harry," Ginny requested, bringing the train of thoughts to an unscheduled break-down, "and place the tip of it on the top card." 

Harry did as he was told, and Ginny did the same. 

"Now repeat the spell after me," said Ginny, "_Regashot halev_!"

"_Regashot halev_," Harry repeated with difficulty. 

Instantly, the pack began shuffling itself vigorously in mid-air, accelerating with every second, until it became a mere blur of white and grey. Harry watched in amazement as two cards blasted out of either end of the whirlwind of whites – one shot at Harry's chest, the other rocketed into Ginny's. Harry stared at the face-down card floating in front of him, unaware that rest of the pack had vanished into thin air, and slowly he reached up a cautious hand and turned it over.

It was the King of Hearts. 

Completely thrown by this, Harry cursed the blood that had rushed into his face as he looked up and saw Ginny eyeing his card with interest. Ginny, he saw, was clutching the Queen of Hearts. What did this all mean? Was this the matching cards thing she'd mentioned before? 

Harry raised his eyes to Ginny's and felt his heart spring as a warm twinkle sparkled in those orbs of caramel-brown. They held each other's gaze for a few moments, and a beam of mutual understanding formed between them. It was obvious just from the other's eyes that they wanted to say a lot but couldn't quite say it. Harry jerked the corners of his mouth into a small smile, which Ginny returned. 

It was as they gazed at each, clutching their cards in silence that Harry felt it again – the flick of the mental tape-recorder switch that made him hear, almost physically, the words…

"_Yes, you want her,_

_Look at her, you know you do,_

_Possible she wants you too,_

_There is one way to ask her,_

_It don't take a word, not a single word,_

_Go on and _

_Kiss the Girl_."

"Um, Ginny?" Harry began quietly. "Can I ask you something a bit…personal?"

Ginny's eyes glowed. "Sure, Harry. Anything you like."

"I'm not sure I should be asking you this," Harry muttered awkwardly, "but, well, how much did you really like Dean?"

He lowered his eyes to his card, carefully avoiding her eyes, but Ginny gave his chin a quick tap with her finger, making him resume their eye contact.

"Dean?" Ginny smiled. "Dean who?"

Harry was unsure how to take this, so he returned the smile. Without a word, Ginny pressed her card, the Queen, into Harry's hand, next to the King. 

"I'm not sure I liked Dean at all, to be honest," Ginny smiled, as Harry raised his eyebrows at her questioningly. "I suppose I just reckoned that if he actually asked me out, it meant he didn't think of me as the doormat everyone else uses." She shrugged cheerfully. "I guess I just wanted to know there was one person in the world who cared about me for who I am. That's why I was so upset yesterday. I'd never felt so alone."

"Well, there is one person who likes you for who you are," Harry said gently. "And it's not Dean."

"I know," Ginny said warmly. "Thanks, Harry."

She took a very small step forward and seemed to be inching her face towards Harry's. For a moment, his mind flew back to the previous day's events and all the self-disgust he'd been feeling all day. He had half a mind to just back off and glance at his broken watch and loudly comment on the time being so late, but the other half of his mind was listening to next few lines of the song…

"_Sha la la la la la  
My oh my  
Look like the boy too shy  
Ain't gonna kiss the girl  
Sha la la la la la  
Ain't that sad?  
Ain't it a shame?  
Too bad, he gonna miss the girl_"

"Potter! Weasley! What in the world are you doing?" barked Professor McGonagall's sharp voice. 

The two teenagers jumped and turned to see their Head of House striding down the stone steps towards them, her glasses flashing in the setting sun. 

"Get back up to the common room this minute!" she snapped, as Harry opened his mouth to demand whether there was any law against it. "You know very well that leaving the castle after dark is strictly against the rules."

Ginny shrugged helplessly at Harry and the both hurried up to the great oak doors of the castle before Professor McGonagall could take any points off Gryffindor. 

They ran all the way to the portrait hole, pausing only to hurriedly return the "good evening" Professor Dumbledore had wished them when they nearly knocked him off his feet halfway through the Entrance Hall. 

Once in the common room, Harry leaned against the wall, catching his breath. He was half relieved half terribly disappointed that McGonagall had interrupted them, but decided on reflection, that it was probably for the best.

"Well, we should really be getting bed," he said, once his lungs had re-inflated. "It **_is_** quite late."

"Yeah, you're right," Ginny nodded. "See you tomorrow."

She hesitated for a moment, then leaned forward and very quickly kissed an extremely stunned Harry on the cheek, before winking at him and turning towards the girls' dormitories. She had just reached the door to the dormitory staircase, when Harry, feeling dazed, called her back.

"Um, Ginny?"

"Yes, Harry?" 

Harry's mind spun like a top and his heart beat vigorously as she turned around to face him with that gleam of what looked like affection in her eyes.

"You forgot your Queen of Hearts," he said, holding out the card.

"Keep it, Harry," Ginny smiled, starting to climb to stairs with a backwards glance at him. "She's yours."

AN – There we go. That was chapter three. Hope you liked it. Good good, that's what I'm here for. I don't suppose any of you noticed that the spell for conjuring playing cards means "pack of cards" in Hebrew? Or that the one for finding the card that represented you means "feelings of the heart" in the same language? Well, okay, fine, so I know one of you will have noticed that, right Mordy? Please don't think of me as corny, it's all I could think of. Oh, what I wouldn't give to be in Harry's shoes right now… it's all I've ever wanted, you know. To love and be loved. Still, what the heck. As long as Harry's happy, I can pretend to be him and well….hope for the best.

Reviews couldn't be more welcome, you know that. I dunno when chapter four'll be up, but I'm sure it'll be here a lot quicker if you wonderful people would encourage me to write it. Meanwhile, the first page of my cartoon version of The Commentator's Day Off (also on this site) is up on the website on my profile, so if you read it and drop a review in the story itself, I would be very grateful, because it's hard work drawing those things. 

Cheers muchly!


	4. No Chance, No way, I won't say it, no no

"Ron," said Harry towards the end of the following evening's Divination lesson, most of which, well**_, all of which he'd spent doing the only thing he'd been doing all day - trying to make some sense of his walk last night with Ginny and the emotional aftermath that followed. He knew perfectly well that what he'd been feeling last night and what he'd felt today when he passed her in the corridors between lessons was incomparable to anything he'd ever felt in his sixteen years of living in a huge spectrum of different feelings, but on the other hand, the element of almost family-like relations between him and the Weasleys nagged him at the back of his mind, telling him to "forget the girl and get a life" (as a little pink-eyed white bat once told his rotting master.)*_**

"Mmmm?" Ron mumbled in a tone so distracted and distant that it was only then that Harry realized just how quiet Ron was being for a Divination lesson, which was usually full of stifled laughs and sarcastic remarks about their teacher. Ron must have noticed Harry's sudden realization because he very quickly folded up the note he was reading under the table and looked up nonchalantly. 

Harry grinned with narrow-eyed suspicion at the piece of parchment Ron was hastily stuffing in his pocket.

"What's that all about?" Harry inquired with a grin, knowing very well Ron was not about to tell him.

"None of your business," Ron snapped with a bit of a grin on his face.

"You absolutely certain about that?" Harry asked mischievously. "Only if it **_was_** nothing to do with me, I can't see why you wouldn't want to tell me about it."

"Yeah, well..." Ron mumbled, his ears turning a rich radish colour. 

"Go on, what's in the letter?" Harry pressed, as Ron fought to rid himself of the embarrassed smile that had glued itself to his face. 

"I'm not telling you," Ron retorted somewhat childishly, sticking his tongue out at Harry, "so there!"

"Fine, I suppose I'll just have to find out for myself, then," Harry shrugged cheerfully, pulling out his wand.

"You wouldn't," Ron challenged, eyeing Harry's wand with slight apprehension.

"Watch me," Harry grinned. "_Accio parchment_!"

The folded note whizzed out of Ron's pocket and shot into Harry's waiting hand. Ignoring Ron's frantic attempts to snatch his letter back, Harry held his friend back with one hand and began reading the letter aloud.

"_Dear Ronnie_," he began, then raised his eyebrows at the recipient. "Ronnie?" he repeated questioningly. "Who wrote this? _'Words cannot describe what I felt last night when I read the letter you stuffed into my hand in the common room. I'm not sure I properly express what I'm feeling right now, but I've never felt happier in my life. The feeling couldn't be more mutual, Ron - I've felt the same way about you for about three years now, and I was planning to make the first move if you weren't going to soon. I'm so glad you did, Ron. There's so much I want to say to you, so yes, seven o' clock in the Entrance Hall is great for me! I'll see you there. Can't wait. All my love, Hermione._' Aaaaaaaw."

Harry glanced up at his friend and had to fight down a laugh. He'd seen Ron's face turn several spectacular shades of reddish-pink in the six years he'd known him, but none rivalled the brilliant vermillion that glowed on his face.

"I can't believe you read that," Ron muttered grumpily, snatching the letter out of Harry's hand. 

"Why not?" said Harry innocently. "I've known what you felt for Hermione for ages. Must have been, what, four years now? Ever since our second year…."

"How do you know that?" Ron demanded, looking more surprised than angry.

"Oh, come on," Harry grinned, "Anyone who saw the look on your face when Malfoy first called her Mudblood could guess. And when she came rushing into the Great Hall during that feast at the end of the year after Madame Pomfrey had given her that Mandrake Potion, you looked like you could kiss her forever. Plus, anyone could see how miserable you are every time you two fall out, and the Yule Ball had to be the most obvious…."

"All right, all right" said Ron quickly, in the tone of loathing he always used whenever anyone mention that Ball. 

"Anyway," said Harry, slapping Ron on the shoulder, "looks like the feeling's not one-sided anymore. Way to go, lover-boy."

"Oh, that's rich!" Ron snorted with a grin, as the bell rang the end of the lesson. " This is coming from someone who can't bear to tear his eyes off my sister!"

"You what?" said Harry, getting up and grabbing his schoolbag.

"You heard," Ron smiled winningly. "You've done nothing but gawp at Ginny since Saturday! I think you've developed quite a crush on her, if you ask me."

"I **_wasn't_** asking you!" Harry snapped as they climbed through the trapdoor and down the sliver ladder to the landing below. "And of course I don't fancy Ginny! What in the world gave you that idea?"

"Oh, I don't know," Ron shrugged, with a beam that showed he was clearly enjoying himself. " The way you freeze when she smiles at you in the corridors, the way you manage to get food everywhere other than your mouth at mealtimes because you spend the whole meal staring at her….the way you lost us that Quidditch match this morning because you were gaping at her in the stands…."

"Wait a minute, we don't have Quidditch games on Mondays!" Harry said angrily, as they reached the fourth floor corridor and climbed down another flight of stairs.

"Gotcha!" Ron laughed, then once his mirth had subsided, he added, "look, Harry I really don't mind. If you and Ginny are getting together, I'm very happy for you. Honest! Although…I can't help wondering whether you don't deserve someone a little less bratty…"

"Ginny's not bratty!" Harry said defensively before he could stop himself. "She's great and I really like her and…"

"Told you!" Ron interrupted victoriously. "You said so yourself! Congratulations, mate! You've struck gold!"

"_No chance, no way I won't say it, no no_," Harry retorted, quoting what he thought was a very relevant song.

"_You swoon, you sigh, why deny it? Uh-oh!"_ Ron completed the next verse for him.

_"It's too cliché, I won't say I'm in love,"_ Harry insisted. 

"_Well, at least out loud, you won't say you're in lov_e," Ron grinned, to which Harry didn't reply, but just fell silent.

"Well?" Ron pressed, a couple of floors down, "do you love her or not?"

_Of course I love her, how could anyone not love someone like her?_ Harry was itching to say, but all that came tumbling out of his mouth was, "She's your **_sister_**!"

"Big deal!" Ron shrugged as they reached the top of the marble staircase. 

"Well, how could I possibly love someone like her? She's just like a sister to me! How in the world can someone like me love Gin -"

But he never completed the sentence. At the foot of the stairs, only a few metres in front of them stood Hermione and Ginny, both staring at the approaching boys. Ginny's beautiful radiant eyes had lost their warm twinkle again and were looking a thousand times more dimmed than they had been two days ago during the Quidditch match. The orbs of caramel-brown were full of horror, disappointment and terrible heart-searing pain. 

Had she not looked as hurt as she did, Harry's more optimistic side might have hoped she'd heard enough of the context to make his last few words sound less terrible than they did, but the pain in her eyes left no room for such hopes. He wanted to tell her he didn't mean it the way she thought he did at all, wanted to make it absolutely clear that he thought the world of her…but the look on her face put his tongue instantly out of order. 

"Sister?" she said quietly, her voice quivering. "After everything you said, after everything that happened over the last few days, after everything we shared last night…that's all I am to you? Just a sister?"

"Ginny, I - " Harry began desperately, but before he could say another word, she whipped around and ran across the Entrance Hall, through the great oak doors and out into the night.

__________________

*) yes, as you can tell, I'm an Anastasia freak as well as Disney. 


	5. The Return of the Mirror

A/N Sorry it took so long. I've had loads of other things on my mind…or to be more precise, on my heart. The wonderful person to whom this story is dedicated should know! ;)

For a few moments, Harry stayed statue-still, staring in shocked silence across the Entrance Hall at the great oak doors which were still slightly open. The little of the grounds he could see through the crack between the doors were growing dark and forbidding, radiating an air of dejected hopelessness which gave Harry an ominous feeling he couldn't quite explain, as if it was describing his own situation.

As he heard the last of Ginny's fading footsteps on the stone steps outside the doors, he jolted to his senses and tore down the marble staircase after her, only to be grabbed to a halt by Hermione at the bottom.

"Harry, don't!" she protested, clinging firmly to his arm. 

"What are you doing?" Harry demanded. "I've got to go after her..."

"Don't," said Hermione again. "Not yet, Harry, she won't listen to you."

"How do you know?" said Harry quickly. 

"Trust me," came the firm reply, and from the serious look on her face, it seemed clear she knew what she was talking about. "I know her, and I know how I'd react if I was in her shoes, and I'm pretty sure she'll be far too upset at the moment to sit quietly and listen to what you have to say to her."

There was a touch of certainty in her voice that put a sudden stop to Harry's struggle to free his arm. 

"I didn't mean what I said in that way," he said in what was almost a whine. "I think the world of her, you know I do! it's just that I'm so close to the family and..."

"I know how you meant it," Hermione interrupted. "But Ginny doesn't, and as far as she's concerned, the only person who ever saw her for who she was, was lying about everything he told her. Poor kid's probably devastated. That's why you should wait a bit before you talk to her. Let her calm down a little, or you'll never get her back."

"But -" Harry began.

"Listen," said Hermione, "I'll go and try talking to her now. You go off and, I don't know, play some chess or do some homework. Leave Ginny to me for the time being. I'll tell you when you..."

"I love her!" Harry burst out desperately, making several passing Ravenclaws stare. The words sounded strange when spoken out loud, but nothing could have felt truer. "You **_will_** tell her that for me, won't you?"

Hermione glanced quickly at Ron for support before saying, "That's something only you can tell her, Harry," rather quietly. 

"Hermione's right, Harry," said Ron, placing a hand on Harry's shoulder. "If Hermione says it for you, Ginny could think she was making it up to cheer her up and won't believe you when you tell her."

Harry sighed and hung his head slightly. He could feel Ron and Hermione exchanging glances as he stared down at the polished marble floor.

"I'm going to talk to Ginny," Hermione said after a pause, then turning to Ron, added in an undertone, "I'm sorry about this. We'll talk later," to which Ron replied with an understanding nod. 

They watched Hermione leave through the double doors in silence. Once she'd gone, Harry turned around and climbed the marble staircase without another word to Ron, who stared after him in apprehension.

Harry trudged miserably and blindly through a blur of corridors, staircases, hidden passages and tapestries, his mind far too occupied to pay any attention to where he was going. He could be crossing Professor Trelawney's classroom, could be the Honeydukes tunnel, could be the hidden chamberpot-room Dumbledore once mentioned...he neither knew nor cared. 

The words he'd last said in Ginny's earshot echoed in his mind.

"_She's just like a sister to me....how could anyone like me possibly love someone like Ginny?...How could I possibly love her?...she's your sister..."_

_Poor Ginny_, he thought, his stomach writhing in such a painfully sickening way that the threat of throwing up returned. _To anyone who didn't hear the rest of the conversation, it really would seem like he'd lied about everything he told her. Not only would it make him appear to share the same view as everyone else's about Ginny's maturity and rights to a normal teenage life, he'd actually convinced her he was the only one whose opinion of her couldn't be more different. He had to admit, there's no logical reason in the world she'd ever want to talk to him again..._

"**But I didn't mean it that way**!" he shouted suddenly to the empty corridor he was walking though, his desperate cry echoing vacantly off the walls. "I didn't mean there was anything wrong with her, or that she's not good enough for me or anything... I meant how could someone so close to the family, to the extent that he used to see Ginny as his own sister, logically and legitimately fall in love with her?"

This was precisely what had happened all right, but to anyone else it would seem almost illegally wrong. Not to mention the fact she's his best friend's sister, which in itself was another barrier blocking all reason from such a relationship...

Harry's thoughts came to an abrupt halt as he smashed straight into someone else's face. Stumbling backwards feeling slightly dazed and massaging his aching nose, Harry stared at the person he'd literally bumped into. 

Staring back at him through the half-darkness was a black-haired, bespectacled, green-eyed face he recognised, after a moment's confusion, as his own. Blinking curiously, Harry shook himself and looked again. 

He was in a disused classroom off a disused corridor in one of the less accessible parts of the castle. He felt quite sure that if Filch or any of the teachers found him there, he'd be in trouble, but on the other hand the place looked maddeningly familiar...

The answer to that riddle was the ceiling-high, gold ornate-framed mirror that stood in front of him, with "_I show not your face but your heart's desire_" carved backwards over the glass. 

And in the centre of the group of people smiling at him from behind the glass, stood two tall figures, the untidily-black-haired, blue-eyed form of his father, standing by his pretty dark-red haired lime-green-eyed mother. The old sadness he'd felt five years ago when he'd last seen the Mirror of Erised returned, making him temporarily forget the Ginny fiasco and take a step towards the reflection of his family. 

As he did so, the picture rippled slightly, as though the glass was in fact the super-still surface of a lake which had just had a small pebble dropped into it. The ripple only lasted a moment, but when the image cleared it was considerably and curiously different. 

The reflection of the sixth-year student had vanished, the surrounding family members had were completely different people, though Harry couldn't make out their faces, and though the couple in the centre were still there, there was something very different about them too. 

The tall red-haired woman on the right now had soft freckles sprinkled lightly over her nose and cheeks, her smile had changed to a slightly cheekier one and her previously bright green eyes had been transplanted to her husband, to be replaced with warm caramel-brown ones, which twinkled when Harry looked at them. 

The untidily-black-haired man with his arm around her, had suddenly acquired a flash of dark crimson on his forehead, showing clearly through the gap in his untidy fringe. His squarish glasses were replaced by round ones and his eyes were undoubtedly the same as Harry's. Both adults, however, were standing in the exact same position as they were before the ripple, and apart from those few differences, were almost exactly as they had been.

Utterly bewildered, Harry sat on the nearest desk, hands in his robe pockets, and stared at this curious apparition, trying to make some sense of it. His hand brushed something very thin and rectangular and as he pulled it out of his pockets, he found himself gazing down at the King and Queen of Hearts Ginny had given him last night. A small lightbulb of understanding **_would_** have flickered on at this point, had the magic of Hogwarts not disengaged all electric appliances in the area. 

He glanced from the royal couple in his hand to the one behind the glass, and felt his heart triple its beating pace. Smiling down at him in the Mirror, were an older version of himself and Ginny, surrounded by the Weasleys, Hagrid, Sirius and Dumbledore, and a few pairs of smaller bright green eyes Harry didn't recognise. Could this possibly mean...? Were he and Ginny meant for each other, in the exact same way his parents were? Was this some kind of prophecy or prompting of fate?

No, Harry decided. Dumbledore had specifically said that this Mirror does not tell the future, nor does it give neither knowledge or truth. "_Men have wasted away before it, driven mad by what they have seen_…" he had warned Harry, five years ago, and had Harry continued along this train of thoughts, he would have gone mad, too. Instead, he realized what was going on.

The Mirror of Erised's job is to show the deepest more desperate desire of its user's heart, so if Harry saw both the image of his parents and family and the apparition of himself and Ginny being in the same position, this didn't necessarily mean he couldn't make his mind up. He simply had two desperate desires, linked together by certain elements, and this meant that whether he realized it or not, he wanted him and Ginny to be together, as his parents were, more than anything else. Whether the Mirror was reflecting the future as well was no longer important. His priorities suddenly slid into proportion and his prime concern now was to reach his reflection's state.

"I have **_got _**to get her back," he said out loud to the two cards and the people in the Mirror. 

"Good luck," winked his reflective self, as Harry turned around and hurried out of the room in search of Ginny, and his dreams.


	6. Now's your moment

Heavy black thunderclouds rolled threateningly across the darkening sky, eliminating any evidence that summer had any part in September at all. Fierce winds whipped the grassy grounds and sloping lawns of the mountain supporting Hogwarts, sending the trees in the Forbidden Forest into a chorus of unpleasant creaking, while dry autumn leaves raked the air with their uneven flight patterns. 

The first roar of thunder rent the air as Harry forced open the great oak doors and ran out into the bitterly cold dark-blue world of the autumn evening. The first blast of wind he faced as he opened the doors almost sent flying backwards into the Entrance Hall, and as he began running down the sloping lawns he felt the first bullet-like raindrops slam into face. 

Had he not re-encountered the Mirror of Erised ten minutes beforehand, he would have simply shrugged, decided he'd see Ginny in the morning, turned back and spent the rest of the evening in the cozy common room playing chess. It was madness to go out on a night like this one, but all reason had fled from Harry's mind when the Mirror made him reach realisation. Nothing could make him change his mind now, not the rough weather, no warnings of Hermione or Ron's, not the hopelessness of his own situation, or the fact he had no idea what he could possibly say to Ginny to gain her trust again... Indeed, had he been in a logically-thinking mood, he would have had to admit that even the most optimistic would have given up by this point. But logic was not a virtue anymore. Logic had gone flying out of the window when he first realised he loved Ginny, along with reason and rational explanation. He would have made a lousy scientist. 

Science, however, was the last thing on Harry's mind, as he sheltered behind a tree for a moment, to check the Marauder's Map. The dot labeled "Ginny Weasley" was alone on the very very edge of the parchment, in as much of the Forbidden Forest as the Map showed, and even as he watched, moved slowly moved to west and disappeared off the edge of the paper completely. 

_She's in the Forbidden Forest?_ Harry thought, pocketing the Map and getting blasted by a rush of wind as he left the shelter of his tree. _On a night like this? Right! I'm going in after her! _

Ten minutes later, he was in the eerie shadows of the forest, well out of sight of the castle or the grounds. The Forest looked particularly dangerous and strangely alive, as every leaf in it rustled, every branch creaked and every tree groaned, all adding up, along the wails of the winds, to a terrifying cacophony, that would have put a less determined sixth-year than Harry to flight. 

"Ginny?" he called into the shadowy depths of the Forest, though the wind simply swallowed up his voice, so that even he found it hard to hear himself. 

This was ridiculous, he thought. Wandering blindly into the forest, with no idea where to start looking was completely pointless and would only result in getting himself lost, miles away from her and probably eaten by a werewolf or one of Aragog's spiders. However, he knew Ginny had been moving west before, so after quickly performing the Four-Pointer Spell he'd used in Third Task and walking in the right direction for a further fifteen minutes, he found her. 

She was sitting on a tree-stump with her back to him several metres in front of him. Her shoulders quivered with either small sobs or the icy winds and rain (_probably a bit of both_, Harry thought sympathetically) and her long soaking hair was billowing in the gale. _What have I done to her?_ Harry asked himself silently before calling her.

"Ginny? 

For moment, the silent figure didn't move, then, as the wind dropped a little, Harry heard in what was barely more than a bitter whisper…

"Go away, Harry, just please leave me alone."

Heart sinking and wishing he knew could think of something better to say, Harry merely said, "Please, Ginny. You've got to listen to me…"

"Listen?" Ginny echoed in her hushed and pained tone without turning around to look at him. "Listen to what? More lies? Do you want to raise my hopes a bit more before you bring me crashing down again?" 

"It really wasn't like that!" Harry cried desperately, taking a few reckless steps forward until he was standing immediately behind her.

"Oh yeah?" said Ginny, her voice now as cold as piercing winds and icy raindrops, "Give me one good reason why I should believe y - "

"**_Because I love you!"_** Harry burst out, immediately wondering whether this was the best or the worst thing he could have possibly said.

Ginny slowly turned around to face him, her eyes and face equally red and furious. For a moment she looked into Harry's eyes and just as his hopes were rising, she slapped him painfully across the face.

"How low can you stoop?" she hissed. "That's the most horrible, lowest, most wicked trick in the book. How **_dare_** you? Have you got no morality? No conscience? No feelings? I don't know what's happened to you, but I can't believe you're doing this to me. I can't believe you lied to me and put me through all this pain! And now you're using my old soft spot for you to get me to believe you? You're sick, you know that? You make me wish Riddle had just finished me off down in that Chamber of Secrets! And during that Quidditch match on Saturday! Did you **_really_** think I didn't notice you were trying to use me? Of course, I didn't suspect you of doing that at the time…I was in seventh heaven, but it all makes sense to me now. Why else would you even **_think_** of - "

"**_Ginny, stop it!"_** Harry yelled, and Ginny, though still glaring at him hatefully, fell silent. "It's not like that! Do you _really_ think I'd lie about something like that to you? Or to anyone? When I said I love you, I meant it! I really did!"

"That's not what you told Ron," Ginny snapped back, entirely unconvinced. 

"That was a misunderstanding!" Harry insisted. "And yeah, it's very easy for me to say that, but it's true! What I told Ron was that you **_should_** be no more than just a sister to me, and that no other person in their right minds would fall in love with their best friend's sister! But I did and you know what? Love has nothing to do with being your right mind!"

Harry continued before he could stop himself, pausing only to pull his sodden fringe out of his eyes. He was still talking louder than usual and in a slightly more livid tone, but he didn't seem angry with her for making all these accusations – just determined to get his point across.

"And you know what else I've just realised? You've **never** been just a little sister to me! I've loved you all along and only just realised it now! Ever since you stood up to Malfoy for me outside Flourish and Blotts in your first year, I thought there was something about you…That Valentine dwarf you sent me later that year, I thought it was from Moaning Myrtle or someone, but when Malfoy made me realize it was from you, I was really touched and really furious when he told you I didn't like it. And since you mentioned the Chamber of Secrets – I fought to the end down there for your sake, with absolutely nothing, and it wasn't just so Ron and your brothers could have their sister back, it was for me, too…And it's been like that ever since. Every time you smile at me when we see each other in the summers, whether it's in The Burrow or the Leaky Cauldron or Diagon Alley…I just feel wonderful. And while everyone at that Yule Ball thought I was glaring at Cho and Cedric, I was really looking at you and Neville, hating myself for not working up the guts to ask you to go with me, because going a ball with your best friend's sister was too weird. And as for that Quidditch game on Saturday – I wasn't _using_ you! I suppose that was just all those years of subconsciously feeling these things for you, bursting through after all this time. And these last three days have been heaven for me! Our chats, our laughs, that walk, and everything we shared since Saturday, it all meant the world to me! And if you knew me at all, you'd know that I'd never dream of using anyone like that, let alone a friend of the family and **_especially_** not you. Is that really the sort of thing I'd do?"

The only thing that broke the silence that followed was the soft pattering of heavy raindrops thudding against wet leaves and branches, as Ginny's eyes, blazing with something undeterminable Harry had never seen before, stared straight into Harry's. Her expression hadn't changed in the slightest throughout Harry's emotional outburst and stayed firmly that way now. The silence remained for a few more moments, then Harry said "Does it look like I'm lying to you now?" in a soft, almost calm voice.

Ginny's eyes widened for a moment as she continued to stare at Harry's face in silence. Then at last, she spoke.

"Not really, no," she replied with the tiniest of smiles that rekindled the old sparkle in her dimmed eyes. 

Harry stared. 

"You must think I'm horrible," Ginny sighed, self-disgust coursing through her voice. "I don't know why you're still here, because if you'd made all those accusations at me… I don't know what I'd do. I'm so sorry, Harry. I knew you couldn't have been anything like the monster I made you out to be. I don't know what's got into me lately. I think it's a Weasley thing, getting all upset and taking it on...the people we care about the most."

Harry's eyes widened, but he forced his heart and his hopes to stay firmly where they were, in case of disappointment or misunderstanding. 

"So, about that soft spot you mentioned..." Harry began.

"It's become a lot softer," Ginny replied quietly with a smile that lit up the dark forest. "So soft, in fact, that I think I...can you hear that?"

For a moment, Harry wondered what she meant. Then, as his eyes locked on her dazzling twinkling brown ones, he heard it, too. Not through his ears, it felt like it was coming from behind his ribs. He found himself wondering why he hadn't heard it first this time...

"_Now's your moment,_

_Floating in a blue lagoon, _(of rainwater and soggy leaves, Harry thought)__

_Boy, you'd better do it soon,_

_No time will be better._

She don't say a word 

_and she won't say a word until you_

_Kiss The Girl"_

"I'm sorry about what I said," Ginny said with a timid smile. 

"Don't worry about it," said Harry dismissively. "And I'm sorry about what I said to Ron before..."

"It's fine, Harry," Ginny smiled. "I know how you really meant it now."

_"Sha la la la la la _

_Don't be scared,_

_You got the mood prepared,_

_Go on and Kiss The Girl,_

_Sha la la la la la_

_Don't stop now, don't try to hide it how_

_You wanna Kiss the Girl."_

"Harry," Ginny began awkwardly. "Can I ask you something?"

"Obviously, you've just done so!" Harry grinned, in impersonation of Dumbledore's deep voice. "You may ask me one more thing however."

"All right, Headmaster," Ginny laughed. "Do you still love me?"

Harry let Sebastian the crab answer that for him.

_Sha la la la la la_

_Float along _

_and listen to the song,_

_The song say Kiss The Girl,_

_Sha la la la la la_

_The music play,_

_ do what the music say,_

_Go on and _

_Kiss the Girl._


End file.
